SUCCESS

‘Fate of the Furious’ Sets New Global Box Office Record

Beats “Star Wars” in its opening weekend.

“Fate of the Furious,” the latest in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, opened with a bang this weekend, breaking global box office records with a whopping $532.5 million in combined domestic and international ticket sales. The film beat the previous record-holder, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which had $529 million worldwide in its opening weekend. In the U.S. and Canada, the movie brought in $100.2 in ticket sales, falling short of “Beauty and the Beast” but becoming the second-biggest domestic debut of the year. Duncan Clark, the head of Universal Studios’ international distribution, said that “all the stars aligned” for the movie’s debut weekend. “Across all subcultures, the movie found a home in every market in the world at a point when moviegoing is at its peak,” Clark told the L.A. Times. Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell and Michelle Rodriguez, the latest installment is about a superhacker who lures Diesel’s character into crime and tries to turn him against his friends. Charlize Theron joins the franchise as the villain, and other newcomers include Helen Mirren and Scott Eastwood.